Die hard Sonic fanatics, here is a selection of some of the most hardcore, and quite frankly bizarre products produced by various companies over the years that have plastered Sonic's face and logo all over their goods in an attempt to sell more units. Does this method always work? No. Does it work very well sometimes? Yes. I'll let you decide which ones of these are somewhat ridiculous. This is exactly the type of branding that is lazy. Rather than create a new and exciting product, they take a mundane one such as processed meatballs and whack a superhero on the packaging. The sad thing is, they do it because quite often it works. However, most of the below products are now defunct.

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1) Sonic Spinball

Sonic Spinball is a rollercoaster in Alton Towers, UK, based upon the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game of the same title that was released in 1993. The actual game was not like that of its predecessors on the 16-bit era console, but essentially a pinball game where Sonic was the pinball. The various levels were kept in theme with the rest of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and predictably, Dr.Robotnik was the boss man. Unlike traditional pinball games, users were able to influence the direction of the pinball (Sonic) with the D-pad. This rollercoaster does very well to keep in theme with the style of the game, passengers experience very similar motions to that of Sonic during play. The track launches riders up a steep lift hill very quickly (like a pinball launch), and then throws them down steep drops, erratic turns in direction, and sudden vertical climbs. In additional to this, the actual car riders sit in spins around (mimicking the spin dash move).

2) Sonic Aqua

Sonic Aqua (Sonikku Akua) was a type of cola drink produced by the Japanese beer brewer and beverage maker Asahi. Unfortunately, it was grapefruit flavoured and consequently didn’t taste like your regular cola, but instead a sharp, sugary, and sour handful of Haribo sweets. Consequently, it not very surprisingly received a pretty negative reception, as other than tasting really bad, it bore absolutely no relevance to Sonic or any of his games. I don’t recall Sonic ever eating grapefruit? To correct the error of their ways, Asahi also produced an energy sports drink entitled “SEGA Sonic Power Water”, which had more relevance to the speed and energy of our spiky blue friend. Although the drink was pretty awful, the cans are pretty rare now and have become something of a collectable item among SEGA enthusiasts.

3) SegaWorld

SegaWorld was a name branded to a number of indoor amusement parks / arcades worldwide that featured simulator rides, coin operated arcade machines, and a merchandise shop all themed around SEGA products. The most prominent of these were located in London, Shanghai, & Sydney. The franchise was launched in 1996, which was arguably at the peak of Sonic’s popularity. Visitors to SegaWorld at London’s venue entered through the “Rocket Escalator”, which was very similar in feel and design to that of the launch mechanisms in the earlier Sonic Genesis / MegaDrive games. Although Sonic was the official mascot of SegaWorld, the park was not solely dedicated to him, but to the SEGA brand as a whole. This is in contrast to SonicTown in Japan, sometimes also referred to as SegaWorld, which was fully built around the theme of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Sadly, due to a lack of punters and interest, the parks were closed a few years after they were opened.

4) Sonic the Hedgehog Lighter

Lighters are primarily associated with smoking, and maybe to some extent attempts at arson, and Sonic’s target audience is children. So it is a great idea to combine the two? Sonic should be promoting anti-smoking, not encouraging it. If he smoked he wouldn’t be able to run half as fast as he does, and all the chaos emeralds would be lost forever! Whoever authorised this product was thinking purely about payday and not any kind of corporate social responsibilities. What next, Dr. Robotnik roulette and Knuckles condoms?

5) Sonic the Hedgehog Tie

This is a tie for those hardcore Sonic fans out there that either receive this as a joke from family at Christmas, or they don’t have a real job, as I don’t think wearing this to work would bode well for your career prospects. (Unless for some strange and bizarre reason your boss is wearing a Dr. Robotnik tie). In case you are not fond of the colour scheme, this tie also came in pink, and yes it looked even worse.

6) Sonic Reactor Chair

This is the ultimate gaming chair for children in the range of 3 - 9 years old. Although i'm guessing a lot of people older than that would like to have their own version too! It has four high-impact vibrating motors and 3D-stereo sound, is compatible with all consoles, as well as music & movies & has a picture of Sonic, which appears on the seat back and wraps around the chair for a three-dimensional effect.

7) Sonic the Hedgehog Toothpaste

This is an example of the 50ml tube of minty bright blue coloured toothpaste that was manufactured and sold by Search in the UK during the 1990s. Other than being plastered with Sonic’s picture all over the box and tube packaging, the only relevance to the SEGA franchise is the fact the actual paste is blue. But to be fair, this is a theme that is fairly consistent among supermarket products aimed at children. I know I certainly would have asked for it when I was a kid! This product was not available in all supermarkets, and therefore did not become one of the mainstream kids toothpastes in the UK.

8) Sonic the Hedgehog Meatballs

This was a pretty mainstream and widely available product in the United States throughout the 90s / early 2000s. The big processed food manufacturers have always branded their spaghetti and meatball products with the most popular children’s character of the hour, so it’s no surprise that Sonic once had his own range for a few years. The spaghetti cans used to regularly run competitions called “SEGA Scratch N’ Screamstakes” where you had the opportunity to win consoles and arcade games.

9) Sonic the Hedgehog Chess

Every moderately successful brand seems to have its own edition of Monopoly or chess set these days, so it’s not entirely surprising that Sonic and his buddies now have their own. As you can see from the below picture, the theme of the board is based upon “Green Hill Zone” in the original game on the Genesis / Mega Drive. Sonic has rightly been given the position of King, Amy his Queen, Knuckles is the Bishop, Tails is the Knight, and the Chaos Emeralds are the rooks. The famous gold rings are used as pawns. This sort of gimmick toy makes a good stocking filler at Christmas.

10) Sonic the Hedgehog Umbrella

I quite like this one. A lot of umbrellas out there are quite boring. This is certainly something that would bring a smile to your face on a rainy winter afternoon! Although you may get funny looks from other people walking down the street. Surely this would have been better if it had a picture of a curled up Sonic, then if you span it round quickly it would look like the "Spin Dash" move! Geeky you say? Too right!